Bayern Munich Campus Round Up: Bunch of late drama

a player makes his comeback after 19 month absence, UEFA Youth League is about to begin and more…

Here is the FC Bayern Campus Round Up, where this weekend’s matches of Bayern Munich’s U-23s, U-19s and U-17s are recapped, meant to be a way to get to know Bayern’s next generation of young and talented wonderkids. The highlights of each match are hyperlinked on top of each respective scoreline, though the live streams are not available to anyone without an FCBayernTV subscription. Without further ado, here is the Bayern Campus Round Up:

Bayern II 2-2 Aubstadt

Bayern II lineup (with subs): Pavlešić – Brückner (61. Rüger), Dettoni, Breitkreuz, Aznou – Dell’Erba, Aseko, Denk (71. Wagner) – Irankunda (61. Scott), Unsöld (61. Kusi-Asare), Demircan.

Bayern goalscorers: 1:2 Wagner (87.), 2:2 Volkmuth (O.G.) (90.+3)

Bayern welcome Aubstadt into their stadium, hoping to start another winning streak. Their previous game saw them come up against a bottom half of the table side, dominate possession, struggle to create clear cut chances and concede a cheap goal to drop points. The same thing happened here. After just 13 seconds, goalkeeper Anthony Pavlešić horribly misjudged a ball over the top and subsequently bringing down the attacker who had gotten in behind him to score. And so Aubstadt were immediately gifted a penalty, which they used to fire themselves into an early lead.

Bayern dominated and pushed Aubstadt back far into their own half, but a goal was not to come. First center back Steve Breitkreuz’s shot was superbly saved, then individual brilliance from wingers Emirhan Demircan and Nestory Irankunda saw them create their own opportunity but fail to convert. Aubstadt then had several big chances to score before the break, but were unable to capitalize.

Bayern kept pushing and pushing in the second half, but over-committed, allowing the visitors to grab a second on a quick counter following a set piece. The extraordinary resilience of the youngsters has to be praised, however, as they simply never gave up until the end, kept going and never lost their composure despite how much was going wrong. Brilliant work by striker Jonah Kusi-Asare and Kurt Rüger set up Maximilian Wagner for the crucial first goal in the 87th before a beautifully floated cross from Adam Aznou found the head of Kusi-Asare in the 93rd minute whose header was deflected into the back of the net by an unfortunate defender. The joy and relief was everywhere to see. Aznou fell to his knees and punched the air in joy. Everybody ran around, excited, before someone picked up the ball to bring it to the halfway line. Unfortunately, an even more miraculous third goal could not be had before the final whistle blew.

With this result, despite the tenacious comeback, Bayern II slip to 4th place in the Regionalliga Bayern standings with 18 points after 8 games, 3 points behind 1st place with a game in hand. The next match will be against Hankofen-Hailing on Friday, September 20, at 10:00AM CST.

Bayern U-19 2-1 FC Ingolstadt U-19

Bayern U-19 lineup (with subs): Klanac – Dalpiaz, Mijatović, Scholl (62. Puljić), Ofli – Chávez (46. Olychenko), Santos (86. Yildiz), Nasrawe – Wilson (71. Schuhbauer), Codjo-Evora (62. Eckl), Richter (62. Chemwor).

Bayern goalscorers: 1:0 Nasrawe (18., penalty), 2:1 Chemwor (75.).

It is important to set the scene here. Despite the side’s perfect 5 wins from 5 matches to start the season, this had all the makings of an insurmountable match. Bayern were not just up against capable opponents, as Ingolstadt’s U-19s came into the match 2nd in the table, having won 3 of their first four matches, but this match took place on a Thursday. In a team filled with individuals who just coming back from representing their nation’s youth sides during an international break, this was chaos. Players had to adapt to Germany’s time zone again and had extremely limited time to train with the rest of the team before this top game was set to be played.

Therefore it was encouraging to see Bayern start the better side and control the ball early on, with some lovely combinations early on getting Bayern into some dangerous areas. One of those combinations ended with speedy winger Oluwaseyi Wilson crossing it to Louie Richter, who brilliantly directed it back to Jussef Nasrawe. In turn, Nasrawe’s shot on goal deflected off of a defender’s arm. It was far enough away from the body for the referee to blow for the penalty and Nasrawe duly stepped up in the 18th minute to slot the penalty home.

Unfortunately, Ingolstadt were far from passive and, despite possessing the ball less, managed to carve out the majority of the best opportunities of the first half with some impressive combinations of their own. They nearly scored early on when their striker was clean through on goal but horribly mishit the ball, but the second one-on-one would not be missed. A very long through pass took Roko Mijatović, a skilled defender but one that perhaps lacks a little in speed, out of play while Leon Klanac tried to do his best Manuel Neuer impression, only to misjudge the pass and for the striker to move past him and tap into the back of the net.

Bayern would step things up in the second half. The first half was good but the second was even better as Bayern dominated, with half time sub Bogdan Olychenko consistently driving Bayern forward. The Bavarians would huff and puff and eventually blow Ingolstadt’s house down. Right back Magnus Dalpiaz won the ball back and laid it off to winger Maximilian Schuhbauer, whose inch perfect cross found Sadiki Chemwor to head it into the back of the net. There was still enough time for Ingolstadt to put heavy pressure on the Bayern and nearly get a goal a few times, but the home side managed to hold on until the final whistle.

With this result, Bayern’s U-19s perfect league start continues with 18 points after 6 games, building up a healthy 9 point lead over Ingolstadt in second, though the latter do have a game in hand. Next up for the U-19s is the first match of the UEFA Youth League against Dinamo Zagreb’s U-19s. Zagreb is well known for having a strong academy and beat Bayern in the Round of 16 of 2020’s Youth League edition, so this will be a difficult match. It will take place on Tuesday, September 17 at 9:00AM CST.

Augsburg U-17 1-4 Bayern U-17

Bayern U-17 lineup (with subs): Ruland – Ajayi (61. Afanou), Pavlic, Kiala (46. Schmid), Wijks – Lambe, Göttlicher, Karl (72. Matosevic) – Mike (83. Hentcho Nseke), Gashi (83. Anand), Egwuatu (61. Moumouni).

Goals: 0:1 Mike (11.), 0:2 Egwuatu (18.), 0:3 Gashi (22.), 1:4 Gashi (75.).

While the other two games were hard fought, this match was yet another easy victory for the U-17s. But it was significant in another way as a long term absentee completed his recovery journey and came on as a substitute. @CampusVid2 captured not just Aristide Hentcho Nseke’s return from a terrible knee injury suffered in February of 2023, which makes this return one 19 months in the making, but also the subsequent message Neske wrote Bayern fans and his colleagues on Instagram, which demonstrates a glimpse of what the poor boy has been through and how he managed to make his way back on the field.

The match itself was one made much simpler by the early flurry of goals for Bayern. The first two goals were scored in the 11th and 18th minute by Mike Wisdom and Frank Egwuatu respectively, and came through a mixture of good pressing and poor mistakes by the opposition. Yll Gashi’s goal, on the other hand, featured some smart link up play before a fine finish. The immediate goal from Augsburg in the 23rd minute swung the momentum more in the hosts’ favor, but a second half surge allowed Gashi to score his second and finish off the game once and for all.

This result means, as the U-19s, the U-17s have a perfect league record with 5 wins from 5 games. Having won each match by at least a 3 goal margin, the DFL’s new development league is not exactly making the most competitive impression at the moment. Regardless, the U-17s next match will be against SSV Jahn Regenburg’s U-17s on Saturday, September 21st at 4:00AM CST.